Gay-rights protesters boycott Russian vodka

(TheDrinksBusiness) - US journalist and author, Dan Savage, has launched “The Dump Russian Vodka campaign”, in response to new anti-homosexual laws passed in Russia.

These laws include classifying “homosexual propaganda” as pornography; banning same-sex couples from adopting children and allowing the police to imprison suspected homosexual or “pro-gay” foreigners for up to 14 days.

There has also been rising violence against homosexuals in the country such as the attacks at the St Petersburg Gay Pride march this year.

Savage, writing on the blog, The Stranger.com, gave a list of Russian vodkas to boycott with special attention to the brand Stolichnaya, as he thought it to be the “most iconic brand of Russian vodka”. Other vodkas cited by Savage include Dovgan, Gold Symphony, Standart, Hrenovuha, Kauffman, Kubanskaya and Russian Standard.

According to the New York Daily News, the United Restaurant and Tavern Owners Association of New York organised a protest with 200 Manhattan restaurants refusing to serve Russian vodka. The message to boycott quickly spread across cities of North America, including bars and clubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver. Other areas of the world joined the boycott, such as The G-A-Y Group in London; owners of the Heaven club which has a capacity of nearly 2,000 people.